What Is a Double Irish Arrangement?

A Double Irish Arrangement is a tax strategy that allows corporations that are not located in Ireland to take advantage of the country's 12.5% corporate tax rate. This strategy is accomplished by a company setting up a corporate subsidiary, or a smaller company controlled by the primary corporation, in Ireland and selling the foreign rights to its products. The subsidiary then sets up its headquarters in a tax haven. A second Irish subsidiary is set up by the primary Irish subsidiary to receive profits. According to Irish tax law, if a company is headquartered elsewhere, its profits aren’t subject to Irish taxes. In the US, the tax rate for corporations is generally about 35%.

More about corporate taxes:

The official tax code for the US is roughly 67,000 pages long.

Companies saved an estimated $100 billion US Dollars (USD) in tax payments in the US and Europe by using tax avoidance strategies, such as the Double Irish Arrangement.

The average corporate tax rate in Europe had decreased from 45% in 1983 to 25% by the early 21st century.